Last decendant buried in Hatfield Cemetary

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Pearl Jane Trent Hatfield, 88 of Wharncliffe, the last surviving child of the late James Anderson and Mazie Steel Trent and the last survivor of the fourth generation of the infamous Hatfields of West Virginia, was buried at the Hatfield Cemetery along Route 44 on Mon., June 16. The widow of Troy K. Hatfield will be the last descendant to be buried in the cemetery.

Troy, being the son of Moss Hatfield, who was the son of Johnse Hatfield, was Anderson “ Devil Anse” Hatfield’s great-grandson.

The two Hatfield Cemeteries are the final resting place of nearly all the major figures of the Hatfield Family, participants in the world famous Hatfield-McCoy fued; the first Hatfield Cemetary is in Tug Fork Valley in Mingo County and the second, in Sarah Ann, is the result of Captain Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield’s removal from the Tug Fork Valley to Sarah Ann around 1906.

Of the two Hatfield Cemeteries, the one in Sarah Ann holds a life-size statue of “Devil Anse” that marks his grave.

Head of the “clan” and patriarchal-like leader, Devil Anse was said to have lived a long and, in his later years, peaceful life until his death at age 82, in 1921. Both of his homes, the one in Mingo County and his Sarah Ann residence, are no longer extant. His funeral was attended by a vast throng of relatives, friends, and curiosity seekers and he was buried in the solid steel coffin he had purchased for $2,000 some years prior to his demise.

Family members say they quit allowing others to be buried at the cemetey sometime during the 70s because the cemetery ran out of room. Pearl’s final resting place will be beside her first husband, Troy K. Hatfield, and she will be the final Hatfield to be buried in the Hatfield Cemetery on Route 44 in Sarah Ann.

“Pearl was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend,” Pear’s obituary said. “She enjoyed gardening, cooking, quilting, knitting, and sewing and was always eager to feed her family and friends that stopped by to see her. She was a member of the Church of God and will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.”

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